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GM suspends third shift at 2 car factories as sales slow

FILE - In this Tuesday, June 15, 2010, file photo, workers at General Motors' Lordstown Assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio put the final touches on Chevy Cobalts. Falling demand for cars is forcing General Motors to lay off more than 2,000 workers ...
indefinitely at two assembly plants in Ohio and Michigan starting in January 2017. The company says it will indefinitely suspend the third shifts at factories in Lordstown, Ohio, near Cleveland, and in Lansing, Mich., because customers are shifting from cars to SUVs and trucks. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan, File)
(The Associated Press)

DETROIT – General Motors says it will suspend the third shift at two car factories early next year because American consumers are shifting from cars to SUVs and trucks.

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The company says the shifts will be idled at factories in Lordstown, Ohio, near Cleveland and in Lansing, Michigan. The Lordstown plant makes the Chevrolet Cruze compact car, while the Lansing Grand River factory makes the Chevrolet Camaro muscle car and the Cadillac ATS and CTS luxury cars.

GM says the moves are being made to align production to demand for the cars.

GM also announced it would invest more than $900 million at a Toledo, Ohio, transmission plant, the Lansing Grand River factory and a casting plant in Bedford, Indiana, to prepare for future new vehicles.